Top-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s bantamweight contender, Julianna Pena, is gearing up for the most important fight of her budding mixed martial arts (MMA) career.
A call to arms, so to speak.
Pena (8-2) collides with fellow 135-pound stalwart Valentina Shevchenko in the UFC on FOX 23 main event, scheduled for Sat., Jan. 28, 2017 inside Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado (full fight card here).
With a victory in “Centennial State,” the “Venezuelan Vixen” — much like her 13-2 opponent — is expecting the next crack at Ronda Rousey the division crown, currently held by Brazilian bomber Amanda Nunes. The means to that end will be smashed (not mashed) potatoes.
From her conversation with Submission Radio:
“I bite down on my mouthpiece and I come forward and I go get in her face, just like I do with all these other girls. So the gameplan has not changed. It’s stick to what you know and you know how to fight and morning, noon and night. And that’s all I’m worried about. I think I’m gonna smash her into smashed potatoes this time instead of mashed potatoes.”
She can smash potato (she can do the twist).
Following her torrid run through The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) combat sports reality show in late 2013, Pena ripped through the 135-pound weight class with four straight wins, including last July’s shellacking over ex-No. 1 contender Cat Zingano.
One more gets her to the promised land … or else.